What is PlanningApplication.ie?

PlanningApplication.ie is a purpose-built web application for easy and intuitive publication of planning application websites.

It makes the process of preparing and launching a planning application website as frictionless as possible for the client/applicant by solving the main problems and bottlenecks that are typical with conventional processes.

The platform is currently utilised for Strategic Development applications to fulfil the requirements of An Bord Pleanála SHD/SID applications, but is also ready to be used for a wider range of applications.

We welcome any feedback and input from government employees, planning consultants, institutions/bodies, property developers, or any other interested parties as to how we can improve and expand the platform. Please contact us via [email protected].

How does it work?

The platform creates a centralised project environment for your application. As you list and upload application documentation, the platform dynamically generates your website, ready for publication. After review, you can then launch the website for public viewing with the press of a button.

This makes it more efficient than hiring a web design company by negating the need for scheduling and document handover. It is also much more secure and robust than typical website Content Management Systems.

Will we have support?

Yes, our Dublin-based team has produced or are producing over 20 planning applications to date. We have developed the platform from this knowledge and experience, to resolve the common problems typical with these projects.

While the platform is easy and intuitive to use, we are always here to help by phone or by mail.

Why is PlanningApplication.ie better than hiring a web design company?

Scheduling & meeting deadline:

Conventional website production means having to schedule availability for the web designer to ensure timely production and launch of the website. With the nature of applications being that milestones often need to be adjusted, such as the submission date being rescheduled, or final documents becoming available at a very late stage, this can bring uncertainty to scheduling and arrangements, where the website being finished on time must depend on the web designer’s availability to carry out any last minute changes and publish the website in time for submission.

Thus there is a lot hanging on the ability for an individual or individuals’ to be able to adapt to these changing milestones.

PlanningApplication.ie negates this dependency completely, by allowing the applicant/client to turn-on the completed website live for public viewing with the push of a button. Once the final file has been uploaded, the website can be live within seconds.

Document files handover:

Conventional website production requires the client/applicant to prepare all of the document files and handover to the website designer for adding to the website. This typically means using a 3rd party storage platform such as Google Drive or Dropbox. The web designer then downloads from the 3rd party storage and prepares and uploads to the website.

This is fine when all of the documents are final and unchanging. However in practice this is rarely the case - some documents have last minute changes, some documents are only available at the very final stages and so on.

This results in a lot of back and forth with revised documents or other changes increasing the risk of erroneous listings in the last rush before publication.

Furthermore, there has to be a clear indexing of documents to ensure the web designer uploads the correct file to the correct place. This means having to rename all of the files, or some other indexing/tagging system to avoid errors.

PlanningApplication.ie centralises all document entries into a single project environment, ready for direct upload. Each document has a ‘document entry’ which determines how the document is named and categorised on the website. The client/applicant simply uploads the file to this document entry and the file is immediately available for the website, correctly categorised and titled.

Project tracking:

PlanningApplication.ie shows the user what files are still pending for upload. This makes it very easy to track what is still to be done.

Each project has a dynamic preview, allowing stakeholders to precisely monitor the progression of the project at all times, making review before go-live very straightforward.

Security:

The platform is much more secure than the average website, using the latest technologies, lightning fast servers and content delivery networks with DDoS protection. You can read more about infrastructure and security measures below.

Timelines and time input requirements

The platform provides the quickest & easiest way to produce a planning application website.

It reduces the time investment by:

Negating the need for intermediary file storage and handover

Negating the need for document indexing or file renaming

Negating the need for scheduling and coordination between client and web designer

Negating the need for scheduling of go-live

If you require a custom website domain, we advise allowing 3 business days for processing.

The platform provides a quick, single-destination upload environment through an intuitive interface. Uploading your files should only take you an hour or so, depending on the volume of files to be added.

Once the domain has been processed and files uploaded, the website is ready to go live.

As such, a website can be produced within 3 business days, or much quicker if you already have the domain registered.

Note: We do recommend allowing a bit of time to review once you’re done, before publishing your website.

Can we make changes to documents or categories after upload?

Yes, all document entries and their respective categories and files can be updated at any stage. The website will automatically regenerate to reflect the changes.

How does the going live process work?

Your project can be toggled between two modes: private and public. Once you have uploaded all of your documentation and are ready to publish, you simply change the status from private to public and your website is now live.

This means you can launch the website in your own time, without having to coordinate with a web designer.

Public access and the usage of web addresses

Projects will have a dedicated web domain for easy access and recognition. Our team will register and process the domain for you as part of the project.

Every project also comes with an instant web-address (e.g “planningapplication.ie/example”)

Instant web addresses allow any type of application, such as smaller projects without branding/marketing concerns, to publish the direct URL to their self-contained website, for the public display of their application documentation, without the need to hire a web design company.

This means the platform is suitable for a wide range of application types, allowing quick and easy self-published digital application archives for all types of applicants, should guidelines change to require same.

Security & performance

How reliable will my planning application website be?

We use the latest technologies to ensure that your website is fast, reliable and that your documents are always publicly available once published. Due to the nature of the internet, no website (not even Facebook) can guarantee 100% uptime. To get as close to that as possible, we follow all best practices. Our cutting edge cloud servers, provided by Ireland-based Amazon Web Servers along with Cloudflare DNS technology provide the most consistent website experience available.

Will our website work on all browsers and mobile devices?

Your website is fully tested on all the latest browsers including: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and IE11. We use a mobile-first CSS framework along with high quality image compression and optimisation to deliver sharp websites to screens of all sizes.

How fast will my website be?

Our websites are completely optimised and lightning fast so that load times are minimised and content appears on screen quickly, even on weak mobile 3G signals. All pages, images and documents are hosted on secure Irish-based cloud-farms that utilise cutting edge server technologies via AWS.

What security measures are undertaken?

We employ the latest technologies and methodologies to protect your website against hacking and DDoS attacks. Our system is custom built on modern web development frameworks that are rigorously tested. Every website comes with it's own firewall and DDoS protection by default.

The most common security issues for websites is the exploitation of software vulnerabilities in CMS (Content Management System) software. Our platform does not use out of the box CMS software and therefore very much limits the exposure to scripts and malware.

With Cloudflare deployment, your website will benefit from anti-DDoS attack protection, as well as faster content delivery through the Cloudflare CDN (Content Delivery Network).

Cloudflare’s network capacity is 15x bigger than the largest DDoS attack ever recorded. With 30 Tbps of capacity, it can handle any modern distributed attack, including those targeting DNS infrastructure.